Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

98 FOOTBALL COACHING STRATEGIES
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The Wrecking Grew Defense
R.C. SLOCUM wru BOB DAVIE
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OuI playem have nicknamed oul defensive unit
the "Wrecking Crew." That's because our philoso,
phy is not one of "bend but don't break," but
rather "seek out and destmy." We never want to
line up and try to rcact to all ofthe difrerent plays,
formations, and motions that ofens€a ca! rur.
Instead, we'd rather dictate to them, make inem
limittheir offense, and challenge them to adjust
to our various types ofpressures.
Every offensive coach has different blocking
schemes, hot receivers, and blitz adjust type
routes which they can, on the chalkboard, use ro
counter anlthing yorl can do as a defensive coach.
We want to see if they can do those things on the
field.
A Dozen Keys to Defense
Here arc 12 things that lead to succ€ss on the
defensiv€ side ofthe ball.
7. Belieoe that big defense uins big
gom€s. Timing, weather conditions, etc.,
can really affect your offense, but if you
havc a sound defensive philosophy. it is
reasonable to expect the defense to show
up week after week and play steady
comistent defense. You always have to
coach yo(rl defensive t€am that they ure
the ones that win ballgames.
2, Set high stand.ard.s. Know what good
defense is. Beforc you can be good, you
must have high standards for youl defense
and notbe satisfied until you r€ach them.
3. Get all plarers to proy tdrd, No matrer
what his ability level, ev€ry player that
you put on the field can give all-out effort
and chase the football.
4. Deoelop an unselfish attitud.e,\ot car\'t
have stars on your defense and be
successful. You're o y as good as your
weakest link. Your coverage is only as good
as your pass r-ush, arrd your pass rllsh is
only as good as your coverage.
5. Use multiple fTonts and. minimvm
technique. We wo[ld like to present the
oflense a number ofdifferent looks but, at
the same time, keep our teaching to a
6, Dictate offense u,ith a pressure
pa.Aage. We do thiB for several reasons:
. It limits opponents' offezse. Offensrve
coaches get concerned that they can't
block all ofyour fronts or pick up ati of
your blitzes, so they reduce the number
of plays lor th€ game plan.
. A prcssure pachage on d.efense helps Jour
of{:nse. By working against each other
your offense becomes accustomed to
pre"sure. t ighr man covprages. etc.